Tesla chief government Elon Musk stated on Tuesday that the electrical carmaker is seeking to put money into India “as quickly as humanly attainable.”
His feedback adopted a gathering with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York throughout Modi’s state go to to the USA. A supply beforehand informed Reuters that Musk would transient Modi on plans to arrange a producing base in India.
“I’m assured that Tesla will probably be in India and can achieve this as quickly as humanly attainable,” Musk stated when requested by reporters about Tesla’s plan to put money into India, including he supposed to go to the nation subsequent yr.
“I want to thank the prime minister for his assist and hopefully we’ll have the ability to announce one thing within the not too distant future,” he added.
Musk stated he’s “a fan” of Modi and famous the prime minister visited a Tesla manufacturing facility in California a number of years in the past, in keeping with video from Indian broadcaster ANI on Twitter.
“India has extra promise than any massive nation on the earth. He (Modi) actually cares about India as a result of he is pushing us to make vital investments in India, which is one thing we intend to do. We’re simply attempting to determine the appropriate timing,” Musk stated.
India has robust potential for a sustainable power future together with solar energy, stationary battery packs and electrical autos, he stated. Musk, additionally CEO of SpaceX, stated it hopes to convey Starlink satellite tv for pc web service to India as nicely.
Executives of Tesla visited India and held talks with Indian bureaucrats and ministers final month on establishing a producing base for automobiles and batteries in India.
Musk stated final month Tesla would most likely choose a location for a brand new manufacturing facility by the tip of this yr, including India was an attention-grabbing place for a brand new plant.
U.S. firms want to scale back reliance on China as a producing base within the face of tensions between Washington and Beijing. Tesla final yr shelved its India entry plans as a result of excessive import tax constructions.
Modi’s assembly with Musk, who owns Twitter, got here days after Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey accused India of threatening to close down the platform for not complying with content material takedown orders throughout a 2020-2021 protest. India referred to as the allegation an “outright lie”.
Musk has not commented on the episode, which brought about a political storm in India.